Leinster Club SFC Quarter-final, second replay/Moorefield 0-13 Dromard 0-7:The ecstatic Moorefield fans were quite entitled to a massive sigh of relief when referee David Coldrick blew the whistle to signal the end of a remarkable, marathon Leinster Senior Football quarter-final at St Conleth's Park, Newbridge, yesterday.
So, after almost four keenly contested hours the Leinster champions from Kildare progressed to face Tyrrellspass of Westmeath next weekend.
A great saga was, however, tarnished as fists and even boots flew in quite a disgraceful finale. As the free-for-all erupted even substitutes joined in.
Surprisingly, the referee, who admittedly was some distance from the melee, did not produce a single card. But it is likely perhaps half a dozen players will appear before the Leinster Council's disciplinary committee when the matter is investigated.
The whole sorry affair was not lost on the managers, Dessie Brennan of Moorefield and Seán Hagan of Dromard. Both agreed it was an unfortunate occurrence while noting with obvious relief that only minutes later, at the call of time, players hugged and shook hands.
Brennan described the match itself as a magnificent spectacle that showed "all that is good in the club championship". He was happy to see a plan to counter the Longfordmen, mainly in the mater of kick-outs, work well.
"We set out to rectify our faults and our midfielders got themselves under the high ball from the kick-outs," he revealed.
"We always knew we had the stronger midfield partnership to cut down on Dromard's chances of success in this area."
What will worry Brennan was an extended injury list that now includes Darryl Flynn and James Lonergan.
"The next 24 hours will give us a better idea of how badly we are hit with these injuries," he said. "It has been a strenuous couple of months for our players, who fielded in key matches six times in eight weeks."
Clearly Moorefield had the players to capitalise on better possession up front. They led 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time and were never headed thereafter.
Immediately after the late nastiness, Ciarán Kelly, a danger man in the Moorefield attack, put the issue beyond doubt with two rapid points.
Another asset for Moorefield was their late call-up Michael "Frosty" Treacy, who chalked up a tally of four points.
The Moorefield midfield of Ross Glavin and Darryl Flynn got plenty of good ball to a willing attacking force. And Jason Phillips was forever inspiring his side with good distribution.
Paddy Murray, who opened the scoring within 30 seconds, also proved a key figure.
And Kevin Murnaghan, Kevin O'Neill and Patsy O'Flynn stood out in the Moorefield defence.
For Dromard, Francis McGee impressed greatly in attack.
Dermot Masterson worked hard in midfield for Dromard, while his brother Patsy and the Conefrey brothers at half back strove mightily against the versatile Moorefield attackers.
MOOREFIELD: T Corley; D Barry, K O'Neill, P O'Flynn; K Murnaghan, G Naughton, J Lonergan; R Glavin, D Flynn; M Treacy (0-4, two frees), R Sweeney (0-1, free), C Kelly (0-3, one free); P Murray (0-4, two frees), J Phillips (0-1), D White. Sub: R Delaney for White.
DROMARD: Damien Sheridan; D Pettit, N Vance, P Jones; P Masterson, C Conefrey, D Conefrey; E McIntyre, D Masterson (0-1); Donal Sheridan, J Martin (0-3, two frees), N Reynolds; G Owens, F McGee (0-2, frees), C Mimagh. Subs: K Donoghue (0-1 free) for Donal Sheridan.
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).
